“Japanese citizens could face a wave of ‘mass surveillance’ amid government efforts to adopt a bill that could strengthen police powers to enhance counterterrorism measures, US National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden told the Japanese Kyodo news agency in an interview.

The whistleblower added that the consequences for Japanese society could be even more severe if the adopted bill would coincide with the use of the XKEYSCORE data collection system.

‘This is the beginning of a new wave of mass surveillance in Japan,’ Snowden said.

According to him, the situation in the Asian country was reminiscent of the security situation in the United States shortly after 9/11.”